December 7, 2015 Earthquake: Tajikistan

Two people killed, 13 people injured and at least 1,052 buildings destroyed or damaged in Kuhistoni Badakhshon. Some of the casualties and damage was caused by landslides and rockfalls. Felt (III) at Gurgaon, India; Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan; Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Pakistan; Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Felt (II) at Almaty, Kazakhstan and at Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Felt in parts of Afghanistan, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Kashi, Xinjiang, China - CDI: 4; Islamabad, Federal Capital Area, Pakistan - CDI: 4; Paghman, Kabul, Afghanistan - CDI: 4; Ni Dilli, Delhi, India - CDI: 4; Punch, Jammu and Kashmir, India - CDI: 4

Tectonic Summary

The December 7, 2015 M7.2 earthquake in Tajikistan occurred as the result of strike-slip faulting within the crust of the Eurasia plate. Focal mechanisms indicate rupture occurred on either a northwest-southeast striking right-lateral fault, or on a southwest-northeast striking left-lateral fault. At the latitude of this earthquake, the India plate is moving northwards with respect to Eurasia at a rate of approximately 38 mm/yr.

The earthquake is located several hundred kilometers north of the India:Eurasia plate boundary, in the Pamir Mountains. The collision of these two plates drives the tectonics of the broad region surrounding the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau, and causes uplift that produces the highest mountain peaks in the world including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir and the Hindu Kush ranges.

The location of the December 7, 2015 earthquake is close to Saraz Lake, which was formed in February 1911 when a nearby M 7.3 earthquake triggered a landslide that dammed the Murghab River. Over the past century, 18 other earthquakes of M 6.5 or larger have occurred within 250 km of the December 7, 2015 earthquake. Given the remoteness of the region, earthquakes here rarely cause shaking-related fatalities (though secondary hazards such as landsliding have caused both damage and fatalities in the past).

(above from reference #13456)

At least two people were killed and dozens injured when a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck dangerously close to a high-altitude lake in eastern Tajikistan, authorities in the Central Asian state said Tuesday... Those known to have been killed include a truck driver and a policeman who were traveling along perilous mountain roads in the remote region after the quake triggered landslides, the country's emergency services committee told AFP. Dozens more are feared injured, the committee spokesperson said. A statement by the presidential press service also said that "more than 500 homes" were destroyed in the quake. (reference #11324)

5m USD total damages (reference #1250)

more than 500 houses, destroyed, 793 houses damaged. 5m USD total damages (reference #13048)